Manager, Programs, Toronto Community Foundation
“It’s a really great way of sharing time together and being active”
At the Toronto Community Foundation (TCF), Nadien works to match philanthropy with community needs to ensure the vitality of Toronto and make it the best place to live, work, learn and grow. TCF accomplishes this in part through their annual Toronto’s Vital Signs Report on the state of the city. Using this report as a blueprint, they provide grants to community organizations to address Toronto’s most pressing issues.
TCF recognized early on the need to improve the conditions for active transportation in Toronto, and have been instrumental in supporting numerous innovative programs and research on walking and cycling, including community engagement on walkability in Toronto’s tower neighbourhoods, a Canadian active transportation benchmarking report, and cycling skills programs for newcomers to Canada. In 2007, TCF provided founding support, making it possible for TCAT to hire its first coordinator, and in 2008 provided matching support for TCAT’s initial “Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking and Business” study. TCAT released its third study on this topic last month.
Nadien’s love of Toronto is evident both at work, and by the way she moves around the city. The way we travel each day determines what we discover and experience and how we connect with the communities and people that make up this diverse city. Nadien knows this well and that’s why, along with her family, she made a commitment to walk, cycle and travel actively for all daily destinations. It’s a small change that makes a big impact on the social fabric of her own neighbourhood as well as those she travels through.